Still not home

So, I am in D.C. but not yet St. Louis. I've somehow set myself up for some kind of hitch-hiking adventure across the US of A. To be honest I just went online and bought a plane ticket to go home tomorrow afternoon. I give up on the living out of a suitcase. So my reports have obviously been sporadic at best. A combination of paying for internet, inaccessibility, and general fatigue actually did have an effect. So now a summation in bullets!

Cruise Highlights:
1. Learning the Zorba the greek dance
2. Deborah (a member of our group) getting to praise dance to "Jesus Kept Me" at the end of the evening's entertainment which was a weird assortment of caberet sung in strange accents. She was powerful and several people from the cruise approached her to tell her how moved or encouraged they were.
3. The donkey ride at Santorini! What a blast! This was a Greek island formed from a volcano and the only way to the village at the top of the steep mountain was by donkey or cable car. Several of us opted for the donkeys and we laughed all the way up.
4. Totally gross beds. Everything in the cabins seemed to remain perpetually damp.
5. Taking a cab to Lindos (1 h 15 m from dock in Rhodes)with 5 of us plus the driver who delighted in yelling duck on the way there to support his obviously fabricated tale about how a cop would fine him $300 if the number of passengers was discovered. We also generated a saying for the rest of the trip: "Stairs? Ha! I laugh at your stairs! I've been to Lindos!" We got to see at Lindos a port which is the only absolutely positively natural landmark that Paul would have been to.

Thoughts on Athens
Reading Paul's speech on Mars Hill in light of what the Areogapolis looks like is life-changing. You must imagine the parthenon and all the major temples (incredible feats of human ingenuity and skill) setting the backdrop for his speech in Acts. Also knowing that Corinth and Athens were ancient cities with rich histories even at the time Paul was there really nuances how you would read correspondance and interaction with these churches versus some of the others. Corinth in particular with its central space being defined by a water/wine event performed in a larger than life space for renactment of the gods activities.

Attempt at photos
I never did succeed in uploading photos but for a complete portfolio of everyone's pics go to
http://66.34.188.80/ugst/pathsofpaul/ The pictures are not all there yet, but they will be very soon!

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!